Did people starve juring the last great depression? What was life like?

Question

What was dayly life like for the common person?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

My Mom & Dad grew up during the Depression with their families. Dads mother left them for another man, so he, his brother and their father moved from New York state to Illinois where his uncle (his fathers brother) lived on a farm with his family. While they never starved, money was extremely hard to come by and usually bartered what they grew for what they couldn't such as flour, salt, grease, etc. at the local store. Along with what they could grow, they were able to hunt deer, turkeys, etc. But my Moms father was lazy, prefering to get drunk and chase women on a nearby Indian reservation in Nebraska. Because of this, the family suffered. My uncle was telling me about he and his brothers would go looking for eggs in birds nests for something to eat. My grandmother had 10 kids, 3 dying before they were 5 years old. This was before the Depression ended. Grandmother ended up putting my Mom and her 2 sisters in a convent for 3 years just so they would get something to eat on a regular basis. Grandma would make what ever she could with what she had, such as mixing flour & grease to make gravy and that's the kids would have a lot of times while she went hungry. People talk about how the recession is hurting a lot of people and not having jobs. Back then, 1 ouf of 4 people were unemployed and there was no social security, welfare, etc. to fall back on. And believe me, the Depression really affected the way my Mom & Dad think. They are/always have been in firm believers in saving money and owning their own place. And basically, women had no rights. Grandpa (Moms dad)
took a buggy whip to Grandma because she said hello to a man on a horse who was passing by the farm house one day. Fortuneately, my uncle (who died in Anzio, Italy during WWII)
put a stop to this. Evenually, Grandpa died and Grandma was able to marry someone else who was a bit better tempered and had 4 more children by him. Mom was born what's called a premee---a premature birth. Nearest hosipital was something like 45 miles away, so at night, Grandma would wrapped Mom in some towels and put her in the oven of the wood stove with the oven door left open.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thankyou, it was a great pleasure to read your story. I can't imagine if there was to be another depression, what it would be like. The population is much greater than it was back 1929, and alot of people lack the knowledge of the earth or to grow things these days.
Your story helps to understand.

Answer 2

i couldnt tell you
i live in the present haha

Answer 3

thats why grandma always wants toast for breakfast

Answer 4

John Steinbeck wrote a useful book on this subject called The Grapes of Wrath

Answer 5

yes, people who once were prominent and had money even had to stand in soup lines.

Answer 6

well... lets just say, yes a lot of people starved, and live was unbearable. Many people commited suicide because of the depression

Answer 7

they had no money or jobs, most farmers couldn't pay their debt and couldn't leave their farming jobs because the debt was too high. Markets crashed and alot of people lost their money.

Answer 8

my great gramp tells me,money was hard ta come by,u coulnt eat what u wanted,couldnt really eat at all really,suicides where really high back then with youngsters and adults

Answer 9

I have read in a book on the history of Detroit that during the great depression 1 person died of starvation every 6 minutes (in the nation....not just the city of Detroit).

So I would have to say that life was tough.

Have you seen the movie "Cinderella Man"
That was about the great depression, and I think it might give you a good visual glimpse into what life was like at the time....kinda rough to say the least

Answer 10

It was extremely difficult. Long lines just to get a bowl of watered down soup at community shelters.
My mother used to tell me how when they had bread for toast, but couldn't afford butter (margarine hadn't been invented yet) they'd spread lard on their toast as a replacement.
For city dwellers it was more difficult than for those on the coast lines where one could fish for food, root through the seabed for clams, mussels, crabs, etc.

Answer 11

Daily life was they had a garden .. raised their own meat.. as in cows,etc.. didnt run to the store..every day. They made do with what they had and didnt rely on the gov.. to help them out. I know my father went through that and his parents also. They had cows to milk by hand.. plowed the fields in order to feed those cows and grew things in their garden.. We can do it now if you have so mind too.. Sure times are tough but we can get through it again if we want to survive. NO they didnt starve. I am PROOF of that as another generation who appeared. So i know we can survive.. its knowing how much do YOU want to survive when the chips are down. My daddy quit school in order to help out with their land.. also..

Answer 12

My grandparents live through the Great Depression, and life did not change much for them, they were raised on farms.
Food was no problem, their parents know how to make clothes.
Back then, alot people did live on farm in middle America. There were time they went without coffee or sugar, but life back then was less stressful and it is today.

Telephones or cars were not common like they are today.

Answer 13

I'm reading a book right now that I got from the public library about it ... it's called "Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression" by Mildred Armstrong Kalish.

It's a first-hand account of this lady's childhood during that time ... it's rather fascinating, I think.

Answer 14

Yes, people did starve, although most were able to survive by struggling through one day at a time. For an amazing look at the life of the farmers who became migrant workers during the Dust Bowl, check out Dorothea Lange's photography during the 1930s. It's deeply moving.

Answer 15

People often starved during the great depression. And as someone already mentioned before, the Grapes of Wrath is a great book if you're looking for information about this. I actually read it today for school and I really enjoyed it. Life was hard and cold and bleak. The people would stand in soup kitchen lines because there was no work and therefore no food. When FDR took office, things got better for some in the cities, because of his New Deal, but for the farmers, there was little relief because of the extreme drought and the decrease in demand for food products. There was a decrease in demand for food products because no one could pay. Contrary to popular belief, FDR did not end the Depression, WWII did. Because of our entrance into the war, there were plenty of jobs, both in the military and creating munitions and other things needed for a war. The jobs created money and life improved.

Source(s):

Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", AP US History Textbook